Donald Trump during the Republican presidential debate on Thursday night.
AP
Real-estate mogul Donald Trump shot back during Fox News' Republican presidential debate on Thursday night and said he was "very proud" of his business record after he was asked whether his company's bankruptcies disqualified him for the presidency.

"I have never gone bankrupt, by the way," Trump said. "I have never."

Moderator Chris Wallace questioned whether Trump could be trusted to handle the American economy in light of the fact Trump-related businesses have filed for corporate bankruptcy four times since 1991. The most recent of these incidents occurred in 2009 when Trump Entertainment Resorts declared Chapter 11.

"In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: 'I've used the laws of the country to my advantage.' But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars," Wallace said to Trump. "Question sir: With that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business?"

Trump, who stressed that he had never personally gone bankrupt, suggested he merely used legal procedures to his advantage.

"I have used the laws of this country — just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera," Trump said.

Wallace dismissed this as Trump's "line."

"But your companies have gone bankrupt," he told Trump.

Trump said his tactics were no different from those employed by other business leaders. He also reiterated his claim that he is worth $10 billion, which vastly exceeds multiple outside estimates of his wealth.

"Out of hundreds of deals that I've done — hundreds! — on four occasions, I've taken advantage of the laws of this country like other people," Trump said. "I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass [them]. But virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law."

He continued: "The difference is when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, 'Oh, Trump. Trump. Trump.' The fact is I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris: hundreds and hundreds of deals, four times I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly so has everybody else in my position."

"These lenders aren't babies," Trump said. "These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you'd think, OK? You live in the world of the make believe, Chris, if you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City. I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered. And I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and I'm very proud of it.

"I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it," he added. "By the way, this country, right now, owes $19 trillion, and they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess."

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